


Capture

by VampirePaladin



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Mid-Canon, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 03:44:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11283081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: Elmyra and Marlene wait day after day for news on Aeris and Barret until the day comes when Reeve shows up at their door.





	Capture

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Filigranka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Filigranka/gifts).



Elmyra felt that it had been important to give the girl somewhat of a sense of normalcy after the sector plate had been dropped and the girl's father and two others had gone to rescue Aeris from Shinra. The least that she could do was give the girl what she could to make her happy, healthy and comfortable. They had left days ago, or maybe it was better to say weeks at this point. She definitely didn't feel that it qualified as months at this point. She hadn't heard from Aeris or any of the others since then. Elmyra just had to take it on faith that her own little girl was safe and sound with her friends and hopefully very far away from Shinra's clutches. 

Their days had settled into their own routine. In the morning Elmyra would wake up Marlene and the two would have breakfast together. Luckily, Barret had paid for Marlene's tuition at school in advance so for the time being Elmyra didn't have to worry about that. After walking her to school, Elmyra would go to her own job, doing laundry. Around lunch time Marlene would be let out of school for an hour and the two would have lunch during Elmyra's break, she tried to pack something that was both healthy and tasty. Then Marlene would go back to school to finish out the rest of the schoolday. Elmyra would return to her own work. Marlene would finish school before Elmyra finished work. Marlene would walk to the park near the laundry cleaners and would play with other children until Elmyra was able to leave work. Hand-in-hand the two would go do any errands that might need to be done before heading home. Elmyra would start dinner and Marlene would work on her homework. Since she was still so young the homework tended to be very easy. After dinner the two would relax by watching television or listening to the radio while doing various activities around the house. Elmyra had found a few of Aeris's old toys for Marlene to play with. Then it would be bed time and Elmyra would tuck the little girl into bed. Weekends were the same only instead of school and work the two did housework and chores around the house. The days blurred together and stretched into weeks as the two waited to hear any word from Aeris or Barret.

It was just after dinner that a knock came at the door. Marlene was lying on her stomach on the floor of the living room. She had a coloring book in front of her and she was very carefully filling in the page with just the right colors and not ever going outside the lines. Elmyra was cleaning up from dinner, her hands thrust into the dishwater as she cleaned up the dirty dishes.

"Marlene, can you get the door for me?" Elmyra called from the kitchen. She wasn't particularly worried about who it could be at the door. Elmyra made it a point to stay out of the way of various gangs. Shinra had not come around since the day Aeris had brought home Marlene and then left with them to ensure the little girl's safety.

"Okay, Aunt Elmyra," Marlene said as she hopped to her feet and rushed to the door. She opened it a crack to see a dark hair man with a goatee. He was wearing a neatly pressed dark blue suit. Marlene thought he looked vaguely familiar from somewhere but she couldn't remember where she'd seen him before. "Hello, can I help you?" Marlene asked the man.

"Hi, my name is Reeve. I'd like to speak to Mrs. Gainsborough," he said. 

"I'll go get her," Marlene said. She shut and locked the door and rushed back to the kitchen. "Aunt Elmyra, it's a man named Reeve and he said that he wants to talk to you."

Elmyra sighed as she pulled her hands out of the water and wiped them off on her apron. "I'll go see him. You can go back to coloring, sweetie."

She went to the front door and opened it. While Marlene had only sort of recognized him, Elmyra did. He didn't spend as much time in the news as his fellow Shinra executives but he had to be on camera and make statements occasionally. He was the head of urban planning: Reeve Tuesti.

"Can I help you, Mr. Tuesti?"

"I need yourself and Marlene Wallace to come with me."

The request was so sudden and out there that Elmyra was almost left speechless. There had been years of demands for Aeries to leave with Shinra employees but that usually came from the Turks and not from an executive himself. "Excuse me, but neither of us are going anywhere with any member of Shinra. I don't care if President Rufus himself shows up on my doorstop."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you don't have a choice in the matter. Either you can come with me now or I can come back with the Turks. I'd prefer not to have to get the Turks involved with this, but if you come with me I can give you news about Aeris and Barret."

"You- How do you know about them?"

"Shinra has a contact that is traveling with them, one that directly answers to me and not the Turks or SOLDIER. I'll be honest, the two of you are both hostages for if the contact is discovered as a spy. But I don't have any plans to have either of you harmed in anyway. I can't promise that if the Turks get involved."

Elmyra glanced back to where Marlene was innocently coloring without a care in the world. She was younger than Aeris was when Elmyra had taken her in, but she reminded her so much of her own little girl. Elmyra closed her eyes, her grip on the handle of the front door tightened, then she turned back to Reeve.

"Give me a few minutes," Elmyra said.

She shut the door and went back to Marlene, she crouched down low next to the little girl and put the best smile possible on her face.

"What was it about?" Marlene asked.

"A friend of mine wants to take us on a trip. Why don't you grab a few toys to take with you? It is boring adult stuff and I wouldn't want you to get bored."

It didn't take long for Elmyra to help Marlene get ready. About twenty minutes later the two stepped out the door. Elmyra left a note for Aeris in case she came back to the house looking for her. Elmyra silently glared at Reeve before looking the door and leaving with Marlene and Reeve. The scent of the multitude of flowers growing outside of the house seemed to linger around Elmyra longer than they should have.


End file.
